Timescape
{4.5/5} “He had to admit Peterson was right. It was precisely the kind of simple check he or Renfrew should have tried. But they were schooled in thinking of mechanical experiments, full of devices which operated without human intervention. The notion of asking for a confirming sign simply had not occurred to them. And now Peterson, the know-nothing administrator, had proved the whole scheme was right, and he had done it without any sophisticated thinking at all.”
Timescape by Gregory Benford, published in 1980
Renfrew has been experimenting with tachyons, and it works — he can change something in the past, like heat a liquid in his lab. Now, because of the dire environmental state of the world, he’s being asked to do something a bit more consequential — communicate with someone in the past. He decides to talk to people in 1963 because of certain experiments they were doing at the time. He hopes to explain the situation and get their help, before it’s too late.
This novel is a bit science-y.
It’s about the science of scientists in academia and their overseers. It’s about people who believe you when you show them something unusual and people who don’t.
Benford invents a unique way of communicating with the past.
The interaction of the story with the JFK assassination is brilliant.
This is the 2nd book I’ve read by Benford. I previously reviewed Foundation’s Fear.
A behind-the-scenes tidbit: The title of this novel was so catchy that it became the name of an entire line of books.